Jazz musician and folk music's Chris Wilbraham with all the gigs happening in the Suffolk area

JAZZ with Chris Ingham: cjr.ingham@outlook.com/chrisingham.co.uk

Friday, April 18

MARK CROOKS/ROBERT FOWLER (Southwold Arts Centre, 7.30pm, £20, southwoldartscentre.co.uk) Two of the UK’s finest tenor saxophonists present From A to Z, a swinging salute to the legendary twin-tenor team of Al Cohn and Zoot Sims. With the George Double Trio.

Saturday, April 19

MARK CROOKS/ROBERT FOWLER (Hadleigh Town Hall, 7.30pm, £20, georgedouble.com) See April 18.

Wednesday, April 23

BZHEZHHINSKA/KOFI/PRIME (Stoke By Nayland Golf Club, 8pm, £20, fleecejazz.org.uk, 01787 211865) Ukranian harpist Alina Bzhezhinska joins forces with saxophonist Tony Kofi and percussionist Joel Prime for a unique trio originally gathered to salute Alice Coltrane and who have developed their own mysterious take on the jazz harp tradition.

Friday, April 25

BEN HOLDER/JULIAN STRINGLE (Hunter Club Arts Centre, Bury, 7.30pm, £20, headhunterslive.org, 07799 650009) A sensational pairing of two of the UK’s most exciting and virtuosic swing musicians; the genius jazz fiddler Ben Holder and the prodigious clarinettist Julian Stringle. The quintet is completed by Chris Ingham (piano), Simon Hurley (guitar) and Paul Jefferies (bass).

HANNAH HORTON WITH IAN SHAW (Haverhill Arts Centre, 8pm, £15/£10, haverhillartscentre.co.uk) Swinging Cat Jazz Club hostess Hannah Horton welcomes singer/songwriter Ian Shaw, routinely cited, along with Mark Murphy and Kurt Elling, as one of the world’s finest male jazz vocalists.

FOR THE DIARY

Sunday, April 27
JACQUI HICKS (Yalm Food Court, Norwich, 7.30pm, £12, norwichjazzclub.co.uk) A versatile, musical singer who regularly appears with Shakatak and the Back To Basie Orchestra, Jacqui tonight performs a selection of her favourite jazz standards and some original compositions from her latest album. With Simon Bates (tenor), Simon Brown (piano), Simon Wood (bass) and Tom Jiggins (drums).

Sunday, May 11
THE MILK MEN (Venue 16, Ipswich, 2.30pm, £15/£7.50, ipswichjazzandblues.com) British R&B group who have earned a reputation as the one of the most dynamic and enjoyable live bands on the circuit. With former Pirate Mike Roberts (drums), son of guitar legend Mick Green, Lloyd Green (bass), Jamie Smy (vocals) and Adam Norsworthy (guitar).

Tuesday, May 13
THE CLOCK WINDERS (Maddermarket Theatre Bar, Norwich, 8.30pm, £18/£9 u25s, norwichjazzclub.co.uk) A nostalgic repertoire of swing, jazz and acoustic country music with joyous three-part harmonies, bouncing upright bass and mellifluous bop guitar, featuring Nina Clark (guitar/vocals), Sam Dunn (guitar/vocals) and Ben Somers (guitar/vocals).

Wednesday, May 14
SARAH JANE MORRIS (Stoke By Nayland Golf Club, 8pm, £23, fleecejazz.org.uk, 01787 211865) Highlighting tracks form her all-original album The Sisterhood, dynamic singer Sarah Jane Morris is joined by her co-writer/guitarist Tony Remy, plus Marcus Bonfanti (guitar) and Henry Thomas (bass).

Friday, May 16
DEREK NASH (Hunter Club Arts Centre, Bury, 7.30pm, £20, headhunterslive.org, 07799 650009) One of hottest, funkiest saxophone players on the scene, Derek exudes an irresistible life force with acclaimed outfits The Wonder of Stevie, Picante, Sax Appeal, and as a distinguished jazz soloist, notably with Jools Holland’s Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. With Chris Ingham (piano), Malcolm Creese (bass) and George Double (drums).

FOLK with Chris Wilbraham: chris.wilbraham@tinyonline.co.uk

Last month I noticed that a show, Three Acres And A Cow: A History of Land Rights in Folk Song and Story, is coming to New Bury Community Centre, Bury St Edmunds, on May 8. I asked correspondent Nina Summerling to investigate:

The last time I wrote for the Bury Free Press, I spoke about folk music’s role in bringing theatre to the masses and the importance of stories being brought directly into the community by using non-traditional performance spaces. Soon after, Chris told me about an upcoming performance of this production perfectly encapsulating everything I had just written about!

Full disclosure: I haven’t seen the show. . . yet. I’ve got my ticket, but Three Acres won’t be here for a few weeks. In the meantime, I’ve been fortunate enough to chat with its creator and have conducted my own online detective work into this exciting project.

I won’t spoil too much, you’ll have to see it for yourself, but since this is a folk music article, I better start with the songs.

During our conversation, I asked creator, musician and social historian Robin Grey whether the show features original music or draws solely on folk tradition. The answer? Both. One of Robin’s songs features, but alongside some forgotten treasures, the setlist is made up of well-known folk tunes - just not necessarily performed in contexts you might expect.

The trope of folk songs is that they are passed down through generations, evolving with each repetition. This can keep them feeling fresh and relevant, but as Robin explained, it is easy for meaning to get sidelined without their original social context. A song once roaring with protest may now be sung cheerfully in a pub without much thought; its message softened by time.

And it’s not just traditional folk music. Robin pointed to Jerusalem, which most now know as a patriotic anthem belted out at the Proms. However, listen closely to William Blake’s words and you’ll hear something more radical (I’ll leave interpretation to you). In this way, music has been a sort of disguise, and part of the joy of this show will be the revelation of these ancestral meanings that have been waiting to be understood by audiences today.

Reconnecting audiences to the roots of these songs begins, quite literally, with where the music is heard. For Robin, avoiding traditional theatre spaces is an intentional move, bringing historical stories closer to their communities and social contexts. These spaces also offer an alternative theatrical experience.

There’s a certain ritual in entering conventional performance spaces: putting on your best shirt, taking out that second mortgage for a glass of merlot, then sitting in the dark for a couple of hours in respectful silence. If this sounds like theatre to you, your expectations may be turned upside down when you find yourself in a community centre, a methodist chapel, even a 1930s cinema, where the audience aren’t just performed at but are part of the living history inherent in the show.

What makes Three Acres such an intriguing prospect is its invitation to audiences to creatively engage with the past and present of the people and land around them. It’s ‘part history lecture, part folk club sing-a-long, part storytelling session. . .’ and shouldn’t be missed!

Tickets are available on the Three Acres and a Cow’s website.

Here are next week’s gigs:

Friday, April 18
The Apex, Bury St Edmunds, Lucy Spraggan. £29.50.
Risbygate Sports Centre, Bury St Edmunds, 7.45pm, Milkmaid Folk Club, Samantha Penman/George & Nancy. £12.
Golden Hind, Cambridge, 7.30pm, Cambridge Folk Club: Showcase with Sakara, Barbara Wibbelmann & Gerd Wagner, Cut the Mustard. £10.

Sunday, April 20
John Peel Centre, Stowmarket, 5-8pm, Folk Session.

Wednesday, April 23
Banham Barrel, 8pm, Later with James Viera.

Friday, April 25
Risbygate Sports Club, Bury St Edmunds, 7.45pm, Milkmaid Folk Club Songwriting Competition Final. £8.
Golden Hind, Cambridge, 7.30pm, Cambridge Folk Club: Roswell, support from All My Trials. £11.